U.S. patent application number 16/063048 was filed with the patent office on 2018-12-20 for network slice selection in network systems.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTEL IP CORPORATION. The applicant listed for this patent is INTEL IP CORPORATION. Invention is credited to VIVEK GUPTA, PUNEET JAIN, MEGHASHREE DATTATRI KEDALAGUDDE, ANA LUCIA PINHEIRO.
Application Number | 20180368060 16/063048 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56551537 |
Filed Date | 2018-12-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180368060 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
KEDALAGUDDE; MEGHASHREE DATTATRI ;
et al. |
December 20, 2018 |
NETWORK SLICE SELECTION IN NETWORK SYSTEMS
Abstract
Various embodiments are generally directed to network slice
selector (NSS). In one embodiment, for example, an evolved node B
(eNB) may include a processor circuit, and an NSS for execution by
the processor circuit to allocate a network slice (NS) to a user
equipment (UE). The NS may comprise one or more virtual network
function(s) (VNF). In one implementation, a VNF takes on the
responsibility of handing specific network functions run on one or
more virtual machines (VM) associated with hardware networking
infrastructures, such as routers, switches, etc. Individual VNFs
may be combined or connected together to provide a complete
networking communication service for UEs. Other embodiments are
described and claimed.
Inventors: |
KEDALAGUDDE; MEGHASHREE
DATTATRI; (PORTLAND, OR) ; PINHEIRO; ANA LUCIA;
(HILLSBORO, OR) ; JAIN; PUNEET; (HILLSBORO,
OR) ; GUPTA; VIVEK; (SAN JOSE, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
INTEL IP CORPORATION |
SANTA CLARA |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
INTEL IP CORPORATION
SANTA CLARA
CA
|
Family ID: |
56551537 |
Appl. No.: |
16/063048 |
Filed: |
June 23, 2016 |
PCT Filed: |
June 23, 2016 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/US16/39054 |
371 Date: |
June 15, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62279494 |
Jan 15, 2016 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 47/78 20130101;
H04W 76/27 20180201; H04L 45/586 20130101; H04L 47/803 20130101;
H04W 88/08 20130101; H04L 47/781 20130101; H04L 45/306 20130101;
H04W 48/18 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 48/18 20060101
H04W048/18; H04L 12/725 20060101 H04L012/725; H04L 12/713 20060101
H04L012/713; H04L 12/911 20060101 H04L012/911; H04L 12/927 20060101
H04L012/927; H04W 88/08 20060101 H04W088/08; H04W 76/27 20060101
H04W076/27 |
Claims
1. A base station, comprising: at least one memory; and a processor
circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor circuit
to: identify information for user equipment (UE), the information
comprised in a received control message; select a network slice
(NS) for allocation to the UE based on the identified information;
and report the selected NS to a virtual network functions
orchestrator.
2. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the NS comprises
at least one virtual network function (VNF).
3. The base station according to claim 2, wherein the NS comprises
at least two VNFs.
4. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the identified
information comprises a profile of the UE, an identification of the
UE, and/or at least one service requested by the UE.
5. The base station according to according to claim 1, further
comprising a plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs
including at least one VNF.
6. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the received
control message is provided using a radio resource control (RRC)
protocol and the base station is an evolved node B (eNB).
7. The base station according to claim 5, wherein the at least one
VNF of a first NS of the plurality of NSs is to provide
functionality that is different than the functionality that is to
be provided by the at least one VNF of a second NS of the plurality
of NSs.
8. An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and a processor
circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor circuit
to: identify information for a user equipment (UE), the information
comprised in a received message; select a network slice (NS) for
allocation to the UE based on the identified information, the NS
comprising at least one virtual network function (VNF); and report
the selected NS to a virtual network functions orchestrator.
9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the NS comprises a
network slice selector (NSS) and the at least one VNF.
10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus is
implemented by an evolved packet core (EPC).
11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus is
implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC), and the NS comprising
the NSS and the at least one VNF is implemented in a control plane
of the EPC.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising another
NS that is distinct from the NS comprising the NSS and the at least
one VNF, the another NS is implemented in a user plane of the
EPC.
13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the apparatus is
implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC) and/or a mobility
management entity (MME).
14. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the NSS is
implemented in a mobility management entity (MME)-stub and the NS
is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC), the MME-stub
functional to provide MME functionality.
15. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the NSS is
implemented in a mobility management entity (MME)-stub, the
MME-stub to provide MME authentication functionality.
16. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising another
NS that comprises at least one VNF, the another NS is distinct from
the NS.
17. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the identified
information comprises a profile of the UE, an identification of the
UE, and/or at least one service requested by the UE.
18. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the received
message is a radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message, service request message, and/or a non-access stratum (NAS)
message.
19. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a
plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs including at least
one VNF.
20. An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and a processor
circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor circuit
to: identify information for a user equipment (UE) comprised in a
received control message; select a network slice (NS) comprising a
first virtual network function (VNF) for allocation to the UE based
on the identified information, the NS selected from a plurality of
NSs each comprising at least one VNF; and report the selected NS to
a virtual network functions orchestrator.
21. The apparatus device according to claim 20, wherein the
processor circuit is further to select another NS comprising a
second VNF from the plurality of NSs irrespective of the identified
information.
22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the NS and the
first VNF are distinct from the another NS and the second VNF.
23. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the processor
circuit is further to receive the identified information from the
UE as part of the received control message, the information
received from the UE comprises a profile of the UE and/or an
identification of the UE.
24. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the received
control message is radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message and/or non-access stratum (NAS) message.
25. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the NS is
designated for a first UE type and the another NS is designated for
any UE type.
Description
RELATED CASE
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 62/279,494, filed Jan. 15, 2016, the entirety of
which is hereby incorporated by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] Embodiments herein generally relate to network slice
selection in network systems. In particular, the present disclosure
relates to network slice selection in 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) and 5G network systems.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Network systems are generally rigidly built systems that
work well for subscriber networks with predictable traffic types
(e.g., voice and/or data) and growth forecasts. However, the
rigidly built network systems do not scale well to support changing
subscriber demands Furthermore, such network systems are unable to
efficiently meet the emerging use cases, which include
machine-to-machine (M2M) devices that may require highly reliable
data only service, services that require high data speeds with low
latency (e.g., video streaming services), and emergency services
that require instant and highly reliable access to network capacity
and coverage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of an operating
environment.
[0005] FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of an apparatus and one
embodiment of a system.
[0006] FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a block diagram of a
system.
[0007] FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a plurality of virtual
network functions (VNF).
[0008] FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of the network slice
selector (NSS) component and network slices (NS) as part of the
evolved packet core (EPC).
[0009] FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of the NSS and NSs as
part of EPC.
[0010] FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of the NSS as part of a
MME-stub and NSs as part of the EPC
[0011] FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of the NSS as a standalone
element and the NSs as part of the EPC.
[0012] FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of the NSS and the NSs as
part of the EPC.
[0013] FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of a logic flow.
[0014] FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of a storage medium
[0015] FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of a computing
architecture.
[0016] FIG. 13 illustrates one embodiment of a communications
system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] Various embodiments are generally directed to network slice
selector (NSS). In one embodiment, for example, an evolved node B
(eNB) may comprise a processor circuit, and an NSS component,
referred to simply as NSS herein, for execution by the processor
circuit to allocate a network slice (NS) to a user equipment (UE).
The NS may comprise one or more virtual network function(s) (VNF).
In one implementation, a VNF takes on the responsibility of handing
specific network functions run on one or more virtual machines (VM)
associated with hardware networking infrastructures, such as
routers, switches, etc. Individual VNFs may be combined or
connected together to provide a complete networking communication
service for UEs.
[0018] In one implementation, the NSS may use a radio resource
control (RRC) connection request message to ascertain the NS that
will be allocated to the UE. The RRC connection request message may
include a UEs identity (e.g., a random value) and a profile of the
UE that transmitted the RRC connection request message. The NS, in
one implementation, may use the profile of the UE to select the NS
that will be allocated to the UE.
[0019] In one implementation, the NSS and one or more NS are
implemented in an eNB. In another implementation, the NSS and one
or more NS are implemented in the evolved packet core (EPC) or the
mobility management entity (MME). In yet another implementation,
the NSS is implemented in an NS, where the NS includes at least one
default VNF. In one implementation, the NS including the NSS and
the at least one default VNF is implemented in the MME. In yet
another implementation, the NSS is implemented by an MME-stub, and
one or more NS and associated VNFs are implemented by the MME. In
another implementation, the NSS is implemented as an element
outside of the EPC. In another implementation, the NSS is
implemented in an NS, where the NS includes at least one default
VNF, and the NS including the NSS is implemented in the control
plane of the EPC. In one implementation, the NS is implemented in
the user plane of the EPC.
[0020] Various embodiments may comprise one or more element. An
element may comprise any structure arranged to perform certain
operations. Each element may be implemented as hardware, software,
or any combination thereof, as desired for a given set of design
parameters or performance constraints. Although an embodiment may
be described with a limited number of elements in a certain
topology by way of example, the embodiment may include more or less
elements in alternate topologies as desired for a given
implementation. It is worthy to note that any reference to "one
embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature,
structure, or characteristic described in connection with the
embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances
of the phrases "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," and "in
various embodiments" in various places in the specification are not
necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
[0021] The techniques disclosed herein may involve transmission of
data over one or more wireless connection using one or more
wireless mobile broadband technology. For example, various
embodiments may involve transmissions over one or more wireless
connection according to one or more 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or 3GPP
LTE-Advanced (LTE ADV) technologies and/or standards, including
their revisions, progeny and variants. Some embodiments may
additionally or alternatively involve transmissions according to
one or more Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)/Enhanced
Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA),
and/or GSM with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system
(GSM/GPRS) technologies and/or standards, including their
revisions, progeny and variants.
[0022] Examples of wireless mobile broadband technologies may also
include without limitation any of the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16m and/or 802.16p, International
Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-ADV), Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and/or WiMAX II, Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 (e.g., CDMA2000 1.times.RTT,
CDMA2000 EV-DO, CDMA EV-DV, and so forth), High Performance Radio
Metropolitan Area Network (HIPERMAN), Wireless Broadband (WiBro),
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Orthogonal
Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Packet Access (HSOPA),
High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technologies and/or
standards, including their revisions, progeny and variants. The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0023] In addition to transmission over one or more wireless
connection, the techniques disclosed herein may involve
transmission of content over one or more wired connection through
one or more wired communication medium. Examples of wired
communications media may include a wire, cable, metal leads,
printed circuit board (PCB), backplane, switch fabric,
semiconductor material, twisted-pair wire, co-axial cable, fiber
optics, and so forth. The embodiments are not limited in this
context.
[0024] Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein like
reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous
specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough
understanding thereof. It may be evident, however, that the novel
embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In
other instances, well known structures and devices are shown in
block diagram form in order to facilitate a description thereof.
The intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and
alternatives consistent with the claimed subject matter.
[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an operating environment
100 that may be representative of various embodiments. As shown in
FIG. 1, a radio access network 102 comprises wireless
communications cells A, B, and C. Wireless communications cells A,
B, and C are served by respective base stations 104, 106, and 108.
Each of base stations 104, 106, and 108 serves various mobile
devices 110. In order to provide data service to the various mobile
devices 110, also reference herein as UEs 110, radio access network
102 communicates with a serving gateway 120, which in turn
communicates with a packet gateway 122. The embodiments are not
limited in this context.
[0026] In some embodiments, serving gateway 120 may comprise a
network entity operative to route and/or forward user data packets
for one or more mobile device 110 in radio access network 102. In
various embodiments, packet gateway 122 may comprise a network
entity operative as a point of exit from and entry into an external
packet data network for data exchanged between one or more mobile
devices 110 in radio access network 102 and the external packet
data network. In some embodiments, for example, packet gateway may
provide data connectivity to the Internet for one or more mobile
device 110 in radio access network 102. In various embodiments,
serving gateway 120 and/or packet gateway 122 may comprise network
devices and/or nodes of a core network. For example, in some
embodiments, serving gateway 120 may comprise a serving gateway
(S-GW) of the EPC 121 structured according to a system architecture
evolution (SAE) architecture, and packet gateway 122 may comprise a
packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) of the EPC 121.
Furthermore, the EPC 121 may comprise a MME 123 and a home
subscriber server (HSS) 124. The embodiments are not limited to
this example.
[0027] In general, the HSS 124 is a database that contains
user-related and subscriber-related information. It also provides
support functions in mobility management, call and session setup,
user authentication and access authorization. The MME 123 deals
with the control plane 126. It handles the signaling related to
mobility and security evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network
(E-UTRAN) access. Furthermore, the MME 123 is responsible for the
tracking and the paging of UEs 110 in idle-mode. The MME 123 the
termination point of the Non-Access Stratum (NAS). The serving
gateway 120 and the packet gateway 122 are part of the user plane
127. The MME 123 and the HSS 124 are part of the control plane 126.
The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0028] In various embodiments, base stations 104, 106, and 108 may
be operative to communicate with serving gateway 120 via respective
communication connections 112, 114, and 116. The communication
connections 112, 114, and 116 may be collectively referred to
herein as an interface 118. The interface 118 may comprise any
combination of network communications interfaces, connections,
and/or devices operative to enable radio access network 102 to
exchange user plane 127 communications with serving gateway 120. In
some embodiments, for example, the interface 118 may comprise an
interface that enables a 3GPP radio access network (RAN) to
exchange user plane 127 communications with an S-GW of the EPC 121.
In some embodiments, base stations 104, 106, and 108 may be
operative to exchange control plane 126 communications with MME 123
via one or more control interface (not depicted in FIG. 1). An
example of such a one or more interface is a S1-MME interface
between a base station (104, 106, and/or 108) and the MME 123. In
various embodiments, interface 118 may include one or more
intermediate network device and/or node. In some embodiments, some
or all of the one or more intermediate network device and/or node
may comprise intermediate packet routing devices and/or nodes. In
various embodiments, one or more intermediate packet routing device
and/or node may enable radio access network 102 to exchange user
plane 127 communications with the serving gateway 120 when radio
access network 102 operates according to a different protocol than
the serving gateway 120. For example, in some embodiments,
interface 118 may include a serving GPRS support node (SGSN) that
enables the exchange of the user plane 127 communications between a
UTRAN and an S-GW. In general, the interface 118 may comprise
switches, routers and other connecting devices. For example, the
interface 118 may comprise fiber cables, copper cables or other
wire or wireless connecting devices connecting switches, routers
and other connecting devices and wire and/or wireless communication
devices. The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0029] In various embodiments, radio access network 102 may
comprise a 4G radio access network. In an example embodiment, radio
access network 102 may comprise an E-UTRAN, base stations 104, 106,
and 108 may comprise evolved node Bs (eNBs), serving gateway 120
may comprise an S-GW of the EPC 121, and connections 112, 114, and
116 may comprise interface connections between the eNBs and the
S-GW. The embodiments are not limited to this example.
[0030] In some other embodiments, radio access network 102 may
comprise a 5G, 4G, 3G and/or 2G radio access network of another
type. In various such embodiments, interface 118 may include one or
more intermediate network device and/or nodes. In some embodiments,
the one or more intermediate network devices and/or nodes may
include one or more intermediate packet routing device and/or node
operative to enable the 5G, 4G, 3G and/or 2G radio access network
to exchange user plane 127 communications with the serving
gateway.
[0031] In an example embodiment, radio access network 102 may
comprise a UTRAN, base stations 104, 106, and 108 may comprise node
eNBs, serving gateway 120 may comprise an S-GW of an EPC 121, and
interface 118 may include a radio network controller (RNC) and an
SGSN. In this example embodiment, connections 112, 114, and 116 may
comprise connections between the node eNBs and the RNC, and the RNC
may communicate with the SGSN over an interface connection. The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0032] In another example embodiment, radio access network 102 may
comprise a GSM/EDGE radio access network (GERAN), base stations
104, 106, and 108 may comprise base transceiver stations (BTSs),
and the interface 118 may include a base station controller (BSC)
and an SGSN. In this example embodiment, connections 112, 114, and
116 may comprise connections between the BTSs and the BSC, and the
BSC may communicate with the SGSN over an interface connection. The
embodiments are not limited to these examples.
[0033] In various embodiments, interface 118 may have an associated
uplink capacity and an associated downlink capacity, which may
comprise overall rates at which interface 118 can convey user plane
127 communications between radio access network 102 and serving
gateway 120 in the uplink and downlink directions, respectively.
The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0034] In various embodiments, the NS selection process may be
initiated by the MME 123, elements of the MME 123, or a combination
of elements associated with the MME 123. In some embodiments, more
than one of the aforementioned devices may be capable of initiating
the NS selection process. For example, in various embodiments, each
of base stations 104, 106, and 108 may comprise an eNB capable of
the NS selection process by way of an NSS. The embodiments are not
limited to this example
[0035] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus 200
comprising an example of a network device or node that may be
capable of providing one or more NS in an operating environment,
such as example operating environment 100 of FIG. 1. Examples of
apparatus 200 may include an eNB, a device or devices in the EPC
121 (e.g., MME 123), or a standalone device or devices that provide
NSs. The embodiments are not limited to these examples.
Furthermore, the embodiments are not limited to the type, number,
or arrangement of elements shown in FIG. 2. In addition, some or
all of the associated with the apparatus 200 may be implemented by
various other devices and systems described herein.
[0036] In some embodiments, apparatus 200 may comprise processor
circuit 202. Processor circuit 202 may be implemented using any
processor or logic device, such as a complex instruction set
computer (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing
(RISC) microprocessor, a very long instruction word (VLIW)
microprocessor, an x86 instruction set compatible processor, a
processor implementing a combination of instruction sets, a
multi-core processor such as a dual-core processor or dual-core
mobile processor, or any other microprocessor or central processing
unit (CPU). Processor circuit 102 may also be implemented as a
dedicated processor, such as a controller, a microcontroller, an
embedded processor, a chip multiprocessor (CMP), a co-processor, a
digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, a media
processor, an input/output (I/O) processor, a media access control
(MAC) processor, a radio baseband processor, an application
specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array
(FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), and so forth. In one
embodiment, for example, processor circuit 102 may be implemented
as a general purpose processor, such as a processor made by
Intel.RTM. Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. The embodiments are not
limited in this context.
[0037] In various embodiments, apparatus 200 may comprise or be
arranged to communicatively couple with a memory unit 204. Memory
unit 204 may be implemented using any machine-readable or
computer-readable media capable of storing data, including both
volatile and non-volatile memory. For example, memory unit 204 may
include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic
RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM
(SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable
programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM
(EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory such as ferroelectric
polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase change or ferroelectric
memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory,
magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitable for
storing information. It is worthy of note that some portion or all
of memory unit 204 may be included on the same integrated circuit
as processor circuit 202, or alternatively some portion or all of
memory unit 204 may be disposed on an integrated circuit or other
medium, for example a hard disk drive, that is external to the
integrated circuit of processor circuit 202. Although memory unit
204 is comprised within apparatus 200 in FIG. 2, memory unit 204
may be external to apparatus 200 in some embodiments. The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0038] FIG. 2 also illustrates a block diagram of a system 240.
System 240 may comprise any of the aforementioned elements of
apparatus 200. System 240 may further comprise a radio frequency
(RF) transceiver 244 and one or more RF antenna 245. RF transceiver
244 may include one or more radio capable of transmitting and
receiving signals using various suitable wireless communications
techniques. Such techniques may involve communications across one
or more wireless network, such as any of the aforementioned example
wireless networks, according to one or more wireless communications
technology and/or standard, such as any of the aforementioned
example wireless communications technologies and/or standards.
Examples of RF antennas 245 may include internal antennas,
omni-directional antennas, monopole antennas, dipole antennas,
end-fed antennas, circularly polarized antennas, micro-strip
antennas, diversity antennas, dual antennas, tri-band antennas,
quad-band antennas, and so forth. The embodiments are not limited
to these examples.
[0039] In general operation, apparatus 200 and/or system 240
allocate an NS (e.g., NS 210 or 212) to one or more UE 110. In
various embodiments, apparatus 200 and/or system 240 may comprise
an NSS component 206. In one implementation, the NSS 206 is a VNF.
Therefore, the NSS 206 embodied as a VNF may provide additional
virtual functionality in addition to the functionality of the NSS
206. This concept is described hereinafter in this disclosure. In
various embodiments, apparatus 200 and/or system 240 may comprise
an NS repository 208 (e.g., storage medium) that includes one or
more NS 210 and NS 212. Each NS 210 and 212 may include one or more
VNF 214-220. In one implementation, the VNFs 214 and 216 in NS 210
are selected and included therein to meet the specific network
needs of a first UE 110 type, where the VNFs 218 and 220 in the NS
212 are selected and included therein to meet the specific network
needs of a second UE 110 type. For example, the first UE 110 may
have a first set of data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty
cycle, range and/or battery life requirements. The VNFs 214 and 216
of the NS 210 are bundled together to at least meet some or all of
the indicated requirements of the first UE 110. Similarly, the
second UE 110 may have a second set of data rate, mobility, latency
tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life requirements. The
VNFs 218 and 220 of the NS 212 are bundled together to at least
meet some or all of the indicated requirements of the second UE
110. The identified first set of UE requirements and second set of
UE requirements may be unique. In one implementation, the NSS 206
selects the NS 210 or 212, for example, which will efficiently
provision a given UE 110 in accordance some or more of the afore
indicated requirements (e.g., UE data rate, mobility, latency
tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life requirements). The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0040] In various embodiments, the UE 110 sends an RRC connection
request message to the system 240. In one implementation, the RRC
connection request message is sent to the system 240 using a common
control channel (CCCH). The RRC connection request message may
include a UE identity value (e.g., a random value) and a profile of
the UE 110 that transmitted the RRC connection request message. The
NSS 206 may use the UE identity value and/or profile of the UE 110
to select an NS (e.g., NS 210 or 212), and associated one or more
VNF, that may be used to provision the UE 110. The embodiments are
not limited in this context. In particular, the UE 110 may
communicate its profile to the system 240, wirelessly or over
wireline, using a message or communication other than an RRC
connection request message. In another example, the system 240 may
store, such as in memory unit 204, one or more profile for a
plurality of UE 110 types. The system 240 may use such stored one
or more profile to enable the NSS 206 select an appropriate NS
(e.g., 210 or 212) to provision UEs 110. For example, the UE
identity value associated with the UE 110 may be sufficient for the
system 240 and the NSS 206 to select an appropriate NS (e.g., 210
or 212) to provision the UE 110. More specifically, the system 240
may use the UE identity value associated with the UE 110 to
determine a network subscription that is allocated to the UE 110.
The system 240 may then use the NSS 206 to select the NS (e.g., NS
210 or 212) that is allocated to the UE 110. The embodiments are
not limited in this context.
[0041] The UEs 110 may be embodied as any type of connected device,
permanent or intermittent. For example, VNF provisioning described
herein may be useful for wireless mobile phones, wearables (e.g.,
video streaming, sports wearables, and file sharing devices),
health monitoring devices, security and surveillance devices, point
of sales devices, automation and monitoring devices, automotive
telematics devices, fleet management and logistics devices, utility
devices, and so forth. Each of the indicated type of UE 110 may
require a specific type of network provisioning. More specifically,
one UE type may require low latency, high bandwidth, and coverage
for limited geographical area. On the other hand, another UE type
may require data only coverage with high availability and
robustness, and medium security and latency. Furthermore, yet
another UE type may require a very high data throughput with very
low latency. The NSS 206 is functional to select an NS, and is
associated one or more VNF, for provisioning a UE with connectivity
services appropriate for the UE's needs (e.g., geographical
coverage area, duration of connectivity, capacity, speed, latency,
robustness, security and availability). The embodiments are not
limited in this context.
[0042] FIG. 3 also illustrates a block diagram of a system 300. In
one implementation, the system 300 is associated with a base
station, such as one of the base stations 104-108. In one
embodiment, the system 300 is associated with an eNB. In another
implementation, some or all of the elements of the system 300 are
associated with the EPC 121, MME 123, or control plane 126. In
another implementation, the system 300 is an independent
communication network entity. The system 300 is illustrated as
comprising various elements. The system 300 are not limited in this
context. For example, the system 300 may at least comprise one or
more element shown in FIG. 2.
[0043] In one implementation, the system 300 may comprise a
business support system/operations support system component
(BSS/OSS) 302. BSS may refer to components that a service provider
(such as a telephone operator or telecommunications company) might
use to run its business operations, including, for example, taking
orders, handling payment issues, or dealing with revenue, and the
like. BSS might generally cover the four main areas of product
management, customer management, revenue management, and order
management. In a related manner, OSS might refer to components used
by telecommunications service providers to deal with the
telecommunications network itself, supporting processes including,
but not limited to, maintaining network inventory, provisioning
services, configuring network components, managing faults, and the
like. The two systems functioning together may be referred to as
the BSS/OSS 302.
[0044] The radio frequency (RF) transceiver 244 and the one or more
RF antenna 245 may be used by the system 300. RF transceiver 244
may include one or more radio capable of transmitting and receiving
signals using various suitable wireless communications techniques.
Such techniques may involve communications across one or more
wireless network, such as any of the aforementioned example
wireless networks, according to one or more wireless communication
technology and/or standard, such as any of the aforementioned
example wireless communications technologies and/or standards.
Examples of RF antennas 245 may include internal antennas,
omni-directional antennas, monopole antennas, dipole antennas,
end-fed antennas, circularly polarized antennas, micro-strip
antennas, diversity antennas, dual antennas, tri-band antennas,
quad-band antennas, and so forth. The embodiments are not limited
to these examples.
[0045] The system 300 may further comprise a virtual network
functions orchestrator 304. The orchestrator 304 may be coupled to
the BSS/OSS 302. The orchestrator 304 may be coupled to one or more
VNF manager (VNFM) 306. The VNFM 306 may be coupled to one or more
virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) 308. The VIM 308 may be
coupled to NFV Infrastructure component (NFVI) 310.
[0046] The orchestrator 304 may manage the network service
lifecycle and coordinates the management of the network service
lifecycle, VNF lifecycle (supported by the VNFM 306), and NFVI 310
resources (supported by the VIM 308) to ensure allocation of the
necessary resources and connectivity. The VNFM 306 may communicate
with the NSs 210 and 212 and associated VNFs 214-220, and may be
responsible for VNF lifecycle management (e.g. instantiation,
update, query, scaling, and termination). For example, in one
embodiment, a VNFM 306 may be deployed for each NS 210 and 212 and
associated VNFs 214-220. In some cases, a single VNFM 306 may serve
each NS 210 and 212 and associated VNFs 214-220. The VIM 308 may be
responsible for controlling and managing the compute, storage and
network resources of the NFVI 310. In other words, the VIM 308 may
be configured to control and manage the interaction of each NS 210
and 212 and associated VNFs 214-220 with the computing, storage and
network resources in NFVI 310. In one example, the VIM 308 may
perform resource management functions, such as management of
infrastructure resource and allocation (e.g. increase resources to
VMs, improve energy efficiency, and resource reclamation). The VIM
306 and the VNFM 308 may communicate with each other for resource
allocation requests and to exchange virtualized hardware resource
configuration and state information. The embodiments are not
limited in this context.
[0047] While two NSs 210 and 212 are illustrated, it is expressly
contemplated that any number of these elements may be found in a
system, and the selection of two is purely for the purpose of
convenience. Similarly, while each NS 210 and 212 is shown having
two VNFs (e.g., VNFs 214-220) it is expressly contemplated that any
number of these elements may be found in a system, and the
selection of two is purely for the purpose of convenience.
Moreover, it is understood that alternate configurations are
contemplated by this disclosure. The embodiments are not limited in
this context.
[0048] Each VNF 214-220 may be a virtualization of a network
function in a non-virtualized network. For example, the network
functions in the non-virtualized network may be 3GPP EPC network
elements, e.g. MME, SGW, PGW; elements in a home network, e.g.
residential gateway (RGW); and conventional network functions, e.g.
dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) servers, firewalls, etc.
Each VNF 214-220 may be composed of one or more internal component,
called virtualized network function component (VNFC). Each VNFC may
provide a defined sub-set of a given VNF's functionality, with the
main characteristic that a single instance of this component maps
1:1 against a single virtualization container. For example, one VNF
can be deployed over multiple VMs, where each VM hosts a VNFC of
the VNF. However, in other cases, the whole VNF can be deployed in
a single VM as well. A VM may be virtualized computation
environment that behaves like a physical device, such as a computer
or server, which has all its ingredients (processor,
memory/storage, interfaces/ports) of a physical computer/server and
is generated by a hypervisor, which partitions the underlying
physical resources and allocates them to VMs. A hypervisor may be
piece of software which partitions the underlying physical
resources and creates virtual machines, and isolates the virtual
machines from each other.
[0049] The NFVI 310 represents various hardware and software
components which build up the environment in which the VNFs 214-220
are deployed, managed and executed. For example, the hardware
components in the NFVI 310 may include computing hardware, storage
hardware, and network hardware that provide processing, storage and
connectivity to VNFs 214-220 through a virtualization layer. The
computing hardware may be any device configured to, designed to, or
otherwise enabled to provide processing and computing resources.
The storage hardware may be any kind of device which is used to
store information for later retrieval. Examples of storage devices
include flash memory, magnetic rotation disks, optical disks, or
any other mechanism capable of storing information for later
retrieval, such as the memory unit 204. Storage hardware may be
differentiated between shared network attached storage and local
storage that is connected directly to the NFVI 310 using an
internal bus or other attachment mechanism. In one embodiment, the
resources from the computing hardware and storage hardware may be
pooled together. The network hardware may be switches that is
configured to perform switching functions, e.g. routers, and wired
or wireless links. The network hardware may span across a plurality
of network domains. The embodiments are not limited in this
context.
[0050] The virtualization layer within the NFVI 310 may abstract
the hardware resources, i.e., computing hardware, storage hardware,
and network hardware and decouple one or more of the VNF 214-220
from the underlying hardware. For example, the virtualization layer
may be responsible for abstracting and logically partitioning
hardware resources, enabling the software that implements one or
more of the VNF 214-220 to use the underlying virtualized
infrastructure, and providing virtualized resources to one or more
of the VNF 214-220. The virtualized resources controlled by the
virtualization layer may include a virtual computing, a virtual
storage, and a virtual network. The embodiments are not limited in
this context.
[0051] The system 300 may be operative to use at least one of the
NSs 210 and/or 212 to provision at least one or more UE 110.
Therefore, the system 300 may comprise the NSS 206. In various
embodiments, the system 300 may comprise the NS repository 208
(e.g., storage medium) that includes the one or more NS 210 and NS
212. The NSs comprised in the NS repository 208 may be cataloged to
enable ease of search and retrieval of the NSs. Search of the NSs
cataloged in the repository 208 may be performed by the system 300,
or the like. Each NS 210 and 212 may include one or more VNF
214-220. In one implementation, the VNFs 214 and 216 in NS 210 are
selected and included therein to meet the specific network needs of
a first UE 110 type, where the VNFs 218 and 220 in the NS 212 are
selected and included therein to meet the specific network needs of
a second UE 110 type. For example, the first UE 110 may have a
first set of data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle,
range and/or battery life requirements. The VNFs 214 and 216 of the
NS 210 are bundled together to at least meet some or all of the
indicated requirements of the first UE 110. Similarly, the second
UE 110 may have a second set of data rate, mobility, latency
tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life requirements. The
VNFs 218 and 220 of the NS 212 are bundled together to at least
meet some or all of the indicated requirements of the second UE
110. The identified first set of UE requirements and second set of
UE requirements may be unique. In one implementation, the NSS 206
selects the NS 210 or 212, for example, which will efficiently
provision a given UE 110 in accordance some or more of the afore
indicated requirements (e.g., UE data rate, mobility, latency
tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life requirements). The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0052] In various embodiments, the UE 110 sends an RRC connection
request message to the system 300. In one implementation, the RRC
connection request message is sent to the system 300 using a common
control channel (CCCH). The RRC connection request message may
include a UE identity value (e.g., a random value) and a profile of
the UE 110 that transmitted the RRC connection request message. The
NSS 206 may use the UE identity value and/or profile of the UE 110
to select an NS (e.g., NS 210 or 212), and associated one or more
VNF, that may be used to provision the UE 110. The embodiments are
not limited in this context. In particular, the UE 110 may
communicate its profile to the system 300, wirelessly or over
wireline, using a message other than an RRC connection request
message. In another example, the system 300 may store, such as a
storage medium (e.g., memory unit 204), one or more profile for a
plurality of UE 110 types. The system 240 may use those stored one
or more profile to enable the NSS 206 select an appropriate NS
(e.g., NS 210 or 212) to provision UEs 110. For example, the UE
identity value associated with the UE 110 may be sufficient for the
system 240 and the NSS 206 to select an appropriate NS (e.g., 210
or 212) to provision the UE 110. More specifically, the system 300
may use the UE identity value associated with the UE 110 to
determine a network subscription that is allocated to the UE 110.
The system 300 may then use the NSS 206 to select the NS (e.g., NS
210 or 212) that is allocated to the UE 110. The embodiments are
not limited in this context.
[0053] The UEs 110 may be embodied as any type of connected device,
permanent or intermittent. For example, VNF provisioning described
herein may be useful for wireless mobile phones, wearables (e.g.,
video streaming, sports wearables, and file sharing devices),
health monitoring devices, security and surveillance devices, point
of sales devices, automation and monitoring devices, automotive
telematics devices, fleet management and logistics devices, utility
devices, and so forth. Each of the indicated type of UE 110 may
require a specific type of network provisioning. More specifically,
one UE type may require low latency, high bandwidth, and coverage
for limited geographical area. On the other hand, another UE type
may require data only coverage with high availability and
robustness, and medium security and latency. Furthermore, yet
another UE type may require a very high data throughput with very
low latency. The NSS 206 of the system 300 is functional to select
an NS, and is associated one or more VNF, for provisioning a UE
with connectivity services appropriate for the UE's needs (e.g.,
geographical coverage area, duration of connectivity, capacity,
speed, latency, robustness, security and availability). The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0054] This disclosure, as summarized in the foregoing, describes
clustering VNFs in individual NSs to support provisioning devices
based on their network connectivity needs. In other words, a first
NS and associated VNFs may be implemented to support devices that
primarily execute delay sensitive video applications, a second NS
and associated VNFs may be implemented support devices that
primarily require ultra-low latency network connectivity, a third
NS and associated VNFs may be implemented to support devices that
require ultra-reliable network connectivity, etc. In one example,
each NS (e.g., NS 210 and 212) may include four VNFs (e.g., VNFs
214-220). A first of the four VNFs may provide network application
and services based on device type (e.g., primarily video device,
primarily audio device, M2M device, gaming device, particular
Internet of things (IoT) device, sensor device, and/or vehicular
device). A second of the four VNFs may provide network connectivity
based on device type (e.g., bandwidth, low latency, reliability,
speed, mobility, and/or cost per bit). A third of the four VNFs may
provide a network functionality based on device type (e.g.,
authentication, integrity, paging, location, data services,
handovers, packet routing, and/or charging). A fourth of the four
VNFs may provide system resources based on device type (computing,
processing, storage and/or networking). In general a VNF may be
implemented to provide any service or action that can be applied to
network packets, such as, by way of non-limiting example, domain
name system (DNS) translation, directory services, e-mail,
printing, file services, time services, voice over internet
protocol (VoIP), authentication, routing, firewalls, zone
firewalls, application firewalls, deep packet inspection,
antivirus, spam filtering, antimalware, quality of service,
netflow, wide-area application services, network address
translation, IP security, NAT, IPSec, processing functionality,
storage (RAM, ROM, storage medium, and application visibility and
control.
[0055] FIG. 4 illustrates a plurality of VNFs 402-408. In one
implementation, one or more of the VNFs 214-220 may be enabled to
provide the same functionality as one or more of the plurality of
VNFs 402-408. The plurality of VNFs 402-408 may be associated with
at least one NS (e.g, NS 210 and/or 212). In one example, the VNFs
402-408 may be used to provision at least one of the UEs 110. For
example, one of the UEs 110 may be categorized as a cellular
Internet of things (IoT) device. In one example, a cellular IoT
device may require ubiquitous and enhanced coverage, reliable
connectivity, moderate to high data rates, and precise positioning.
A cellular IoT device may comprise an automation and monitoring
device, wearable device, health monitoring device, vehicular
device, fleet management device, security and surveillance device,
automation and monitoring device, or structural (e.g., building)
device. Each type of cellular IoT may have a unique provisioning
requirements set (e.g., data rate, latency, battery, and speed).
The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0056] The VNF 402 may be enabled to allocate cellular IoT
application and services provisioning. More specifically, the VNF
402 is implemented to allocate services for a particular type of
cellular IoT device. For instance, in one example, the VNF 402 may
allocate applications and services related to robust video and
audio. In another example, the VNF 402 may include connectivity to
cloud based computing and platforms with varying capabilities and
strengths. Such platforms include Intel.RTM. Cloud Technology,
GENI, Google Cloud, ThingWorx, OpenloT, etc. The VNF 404 may be
enabled to allocate network characteristics provisioning for a
particular type of cellular IoT device. For example, the VNF 404
may be implemented to allocate virtualized latency, reliability and
cost per bit for a particular type of cellular IoT device. For
example, the VNF 404 may be enabled to allocate communication
technology that uses frequencies and bandwidths to achieve a needed
latency level. Furthermore, the VNF 404 may be enabled to allocate
a network connectivity reliability level that achieves a required
success rate for IoT service delivery. In addition, the VNF 404 may
allocate a required cost per bit for the particular type of
cellular IoT device. In one example, a low cost per bit may be
achieved by enabling the VNF 404 to provision the particular type
of cellular IoT device with LTE network technology or similar
network technology. In one example, the VNF 406 is able to allocate
network functions for a particular type of cellular IoT device. The
network functions may include authentication integrity, paging,
data services, and charging. The VNF 408 is functional to allocate
system resources for a particular type of cellular IoT device. Such
system resources include, for example, virtualized computing,
processing, storage and/or network functionalities. The embodiments
are not limited in this context.
[0057] FIG. 5 illustrates the NSS 206 and the NSs 210 and 212 as
part of the EPC 121. The number of NSs is exemplary only. The EPC
121 may be operative to use at least one of the NSs 210 and/or 212
to provision at least one or more UE 110. Therefore, the EPC 121
may comprise the NSS 206. In various embodiments, the EPC 121 may
comprise the NS repository 208 (e.g., storage medium) that includes
the one or more NS 210 and NS 212. Each NS 210 and 212 may include
one or more VNF 214-220. The NSs comprised in the NS repository 208
may be cataloged to enable ease of search and retrieval of the NSs.
Search of the NSs cataloged in the repository 208 may be performed
by the EPC 121, or the like. In one implementation, the VNFs 214
and 216 in NS 210 are selected and included therein to meet the
specific network needs of a first UE 110 type, where the VNFs 218
and 220 in the NS 212 are selected and included therein to meet the
specific network needs of a second UE 110 type. For example, the
first UE 110 may have a first set of data rate, mobility, latency
tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life requirements. The
VNFs 214 and 216 of the NS 210 are bundled together to at least
meet some or all of the indicated requirements of the first UE 110.
Similarly, the second UE 110 may have a second set of data rate,
mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life
requirements. The VNFs 218 and 220 of the NS 212 are bundled
together to at least meet some or all of the indicated requirements
of the second UE 110. The identified first set of UE requirements
and second set of UE requirements may be unique. In one
implementation, the NSS 206 selects the NS 210 or 212, for example,
which will efficiently provision a given UE 110 in accordance some
or more of the afore indicated requirements (e.g., UE data rate,
mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life
requirements). The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0058] FIG. 6 illustrates the NSS 206 and the NSs 210 and 212 as
part of the EPC 121. In this example, the NS 210, in addition to
the VNFs 214 and 216, includes an MME VNF 602 that implements the
NSS 206. The number of NSs is exemplary only. The EPC 121 may be
operative to use at least one of the NSs 210 and/or 212 to
provision at least one or more UE 110. In this example embodiment,
the NSS 206 is part of the NS 210, and the NSS 206 is associated
with the MME VNF 602. Therefore, in this example embodiment, the NS
210 includes VNFs 214, 216 and MME VNF 602 that provision UEs 110
(e.g., all UEs 110) that request service from the EPC 121. In one
implementation, the NS 210 may be considered a default NS. In one
implementation, the MME VNF 602 includes a subset of MME
functionality, virtualized, that will be allocated to UEs 110
(e.g., all UEs 110) that request service from the EPC 121. The
subset of MME functionality may include, for example, a virtualized
network access control that manages authentication and
authorization for the UEs 110, and/or UE reachability for the UEs
110. In one implementation, the NSS 206 may be associated with one
NS (e.g., NS 210, as is illustrated in FIG. 6). Alternatively, a
plurality of NSs implemented may include an NSS, where each of the
NSSs function together and/or separately to select one or more NS
for provisioning UEs. The embodiments are not limited in this
context.
[0059] In various embodiments, the EPC 121 may comprise the NS
repository 208 (e.g., storage medium) that includes one or more NS
212. The NSs comprised in the NS repository 208 may be cataloged to
enable ease of search and retrieval of the NSs. Search of the NSs
cataloged in the repository 208 may be performed by the EPC 121, or
the like. The NS 212 may include one or more VNF 218-220.
Furthermore, the NS 212 may include an MME VNF 604. Furthermore,
additional NSs implemented by the EPC 121 may include MME VNF types
as well.
[0060] In one implementation, the VNFs 218 and 220 in the NS 212
are selected and included therein to meet the specific network
needs of a first UE 110 type. For example, the first UE 110 may
have a first set of data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty
cycle, range and/or battery life requirements. The VNFs 218 and 220
of the NS 212 are bundled together to at least meet some or all of
the indicated requirements of the first UE 110. Furthermore, the
MME VNF 604 is included in the NS 212 to provide virtualized MME
functionality that is tailored for the first UE 110. For example,
the MME VNF 604 may provide a subset of MME functionality to the
first UE 110. The subset of MME functionality may include, for
example, virtualized mobility management, tracking area management,
paging, lawful intercept and/or load-balancing. The embodiments are
not limited in this context.
[0061] At least one additional NS and associated VNFs may be
implemented in the EPC 121 to at least provide provisioning for
some or all of the connectivity and network requirements of a
second UE 110. In one implementation, the NSS 206 selects the NS,
for example, which will efficiently provision a given UE 110 in
accordance some or more of the afore indicated requirements (e.g.,
UE data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or
battery life requirements). The embodiments are not limited in this
context. The at least one additional NS may also include an MME VNF
that is tailored for the second UE 110.
[0062] FIG. 7 illustrates the NSS 206 as part of a MME-stub VNF 700
and NSs 210 and 212 as part of the EPC 121. The number of NSs is
exemplary only. The MME-stub 700 may contain the NSS 206, which may
be a VNF responsible for allocating at least one or more UE 110 to
one of the NSs 210 and/or 212, to thereby enable provisioning of
the at least one or more UE 110. In one implementation, the
MME-stub VNF 700 includes a subset of MME functionality,
virtualized, that will be allocated to UEs 110 (e.g., all UEs 110)
that request service from the EPC 121. The subset of MME-stub VNF
700 functionality may include, in addition to the NSS 206, for
example, a virtualized network access control that manages
authentication and authorization for the UEs 110. In this case, an
initial request from at least one UE 110 would go to the MME-stub
VNF 700, which would use its functionality (e.g., one or more VNF)
to authenticate and authorize the at least one UE 110 to use the
EPC 121. Subsequently, the MME-stub VNF 700 may use the NSS 206 to
allocate one or more NS 210 and/or NS 212 to the at least one UE
110. In one implementation, the at least one UE 110 may be
allocated a plurality of NSs (e.g., NS 210 and NS 212) in order to
provision unique services to the at least one UE 110. The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0063] In various embodiments, the EPC 121 may comprise the NS
repository 208 (e.g., storage medium) that includes the one or more
NS 210 and NS 212. Each NS 210 and 212 may include one or more VNF
214-220. Furthermore, the NS 210 may include the MME VNF 604 and
the NS 212 may include an MME VNF 606. Furthermore, additional NSs
implemented by the EPC 121 may include MME VNF types as well. For
example, the MME VNF 604 may provide a subset of MME functionality
to a first UE 110. The subset of MME functionality may include, for
example, virtualized mobility management, paging, tracking area
management, lawful intercept and/or load-balancing. Similarly, the
MME VNF 606 may provide a subset of MME functionality to a second
UE 110. The subset of MME functionality provided by the MME VNF 604
may be unique from the subset of MME functionality provided by the
MMM VNF 606. The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0064] The NSs comprised in the NS repository 208 may be cataloged
to enable ease of search and retrieval of the NSs. Search of the
NSs cataloged in the repository 208 may be performed by the EPC
121, or the like. In one implementation, the VNFs 214 and 216 in NS
210 are selected and included therein to meet the specific network
needs of the first UE 110 type, where the VNFs 218 and 220 in the
NS 212 are selected and included therein to meet the specific
network needs of the second UE 110 type. For example, the first UE
110 may have a first set of data rate, mobility, latency tolerance,
duty cycle, range and/or battery life requirements. The VNFs 214
and 216 of the NS 210 are bundled together to at least meet some or
all of the indicated requirements of the first UE 110. Similarly,
the second UE 110 may have a second set of data rate, mobility,
latency tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life
requirements. The VNFs 218 and 220 of the NS 212 are bundled
together to at least meet some or all of the indicated requirements
of the second UE 110. The identified first set of UE requirements
and second set of UE requirements may be unique. In one
implementation, the NSS 206 selects the NS 210 or 212, for example,
which will efficiently provision a given UE 110 in accordance some
or more of the afore indicated requirements (e.g., UE data rate,
mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life
requirements). The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0065] FIG. 8 illustrates the NSS 206 as a standalone element
(e.g., disparate from the EPC 121) and the NSs 210 and 212 as part
of the EPC 121. The number of NSs is exemplary only. The NSS 206
may be operative, via the EPC 121, to use at least one of the NSs
210 and/or 212 to provision at least one or more UE 110. In various
embodiments, the EPC 121 may comprise the NS repository 208 (e.g.,
storage medium) that includes the one or more NS 210 and NS 212.
The NSs comprised in the NS repository 208 may be cataloged to
enable ease of search and retrieval of the NSs. Search of the NSs
cataloged in the repository 208 may be performed by the EPC 121, or
the like. Each NS 210 and 212 may include one or more VNF 214-220.
In one implementation, the VNFs 214 and 216 in NS 210 are selected
and included therein to meet the specific network needs of a first
UE 110 type, where the VNFs 218 and 220 in the NS 212 are selected
and included therein to meet the specific network needs of a second
UE 110 type. For example, the first UE 110 may have a first set of
data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or
battery life requirements. The VNFs 214 and 216 of the NS 210 are
bundled together to at least meet some or all of the indicated
requirements of the first UE 110. Similarly, the second UE 110 may
have a second set of data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty
cycle, range and/or battery life requirements. The VNFs 218 and 220
of the NS 212 are bundled together to at least meet some or all of
the indicated requirements of the second UE 110. The identified
first set of UE requirements and second set of UE requirements may
be unique. In one implementation, the NSS 206 selects the NS 210 or
212, for example, which will efficiently provision a given UE 110
in accordance some or more of the afore indicated requirements
(e.g., UE data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle, range
and/or battery life requirements). The embodiments are not limited
in this context.
[0066] FIG. 9 illustrates the NSS 206 and the NSs 210 and 212 as
part of the EPC 121. The number of NSs is exemplary only. The EPC
121 may be operative to use at least one of the NSs 210 and/or 212
to provision at least one or more UE 110. Therefore, the EPC 121
may comprise the NSS 206. In this example embodiment, the NSS 206
is part of the NS 210, where the NS 210 is located in the control
plane 126. Therefore, in this example embodiment, the NS 210
includes VNFs 214 and 216 that provision UEs 110 (e.g., all UEs
110) that request service from the EPC 121. In one implementation,
the NS 210 may be considered a default NS.
[0067] In various embodiments, the EPC 121 may comprise the NS
repository 208 (e.g., storage medium) that includes one or more NS
212. The NSs comprised in the NS repository 208 may be cataloged to
enable ease of search and retrieval of the NSs. Search of the NSs
cataloged in the repository 208 may be performed by the EPC 121, or
the like. The NS 212 may include one or more VNF 218-220. In this
example embodiment, at least the NS 212 is in the user plane 127.
In one implementation, the VNFs 218 and 220 in the NS 212 are
selected and included therein to meet the specific network needs of
a first UE 110 type. For example, the first UE 110 may have a first
set of data rate, mobility, latency tolerance, duty cycle, range
and/or battery life requirements. The VNFs 218 and 220 of the NS
212 are bundled together to at least meet some or all of the
indicated requirements of the first UE 110. At least one additional
NS and associated VNFs may be implemented in the EPC 121 to at
least provide provisioning for some or all of the connectivity and
network requirements of a second UE 110. In one implementation, the
NSS 206 selects the NS, for example, which will efficiently
provision a given UE 110 in accordance some or more of the afore
indicated requirements (e.g., UE data rate, mobility, latency
tolerance, duty cycle, range and/or battery life requirements). The
embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0068] Operations for the above embodiments may be further
described with reference to the following figures and accompanying
examples. Some of the figures may include a logic flow. Although
such figures presented herein may include a particular logic flow,
it can be appreciated that the logic flow merely provides an
example of how the general functionality as described herein can be
implemented. Further, the given logic flow does not necessarily
have to be executed in the order presented unless otherwise
indicated. In addition, the given logic flow may be implemented by
a hardware element, a software element executed by a processor, or
any combination thereof. The embodiments are not limited in this
context.
[0069] FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of a logic flow 1000,
which may be representative of the operations executed by one or
more embodiments described herein. More particularly, the logic
flow 1000 may comprise an example of operations that one or more
element illustrated in FIGS. 1-9 may perform to enable device
provisioning that includes providing one or more network slice and
associated virtual network functions that facilitate device
connectivity to a telecommunications network.
[0070] As shown in logic flow 1000, a network entity receives a
message or request from a UE at 1002. In an implementation, the
network entity is a NSS. The NSS may be part of an eNB, EPC, MMC,
MMC-stub, or the NSS may be a standalone element external of the
EPC. The message may include a device profile and/or an
identification of the UE. Furthermore, the message may include one
or more service request. Alternatively, the message may include one
or more service request as well as additional information (e.g., a
device profile and/or an identification of the UE). In one
implementation, the message may be an RRC connection request
message. In another implementation, the message may be a NAS
message.
[0071] At 1004, the network entity selects a NS that may be used to
provision the UE. In one implementation, the network entity selects
one or more NS to provision of the UE based on a service request
made by the UE. In one implementation, the service request may be
part of the message or request from the UE at 1002. The NS may
comprise one or more VNF. The NS may alternatively comprise the
network entity that receives the message and one or more VNF. In
one implementation, the NS that includes the network entity,
includes one or more default VNF. The network entity may select the
NS based on the device profile and/or the identification included
in the message. In one implementation, the message is an RRC
connection request message. In a particular implementation, the
identification of the UE is sufficient to enable the network entity
to select the NS that may be used to provision the UE.
Alternatively, in another implementation, the device profile of the
UE is sufficient to enable the network entity to select the NS that
may be used provision the UE. In one implementation, the NS
includes a plurality of VNF. In another implementation, the network
entity selects a plurality of NS that may be used to provision the
user equipment. In one implementation, one of the plurality of NS
is a default network slice that includes at least one default VNF,
and another of the plurality of NS is a network slice that the
network entity selects based on the device profile and/or the
identification of the UE.
[0072] At 1006, the network entity provisions the UE using the NS
and the associated one or more VNF. In one implementation, the
network entity provisions the UE using a plurality of NSs. One NS
may include one or more default VNF and another NS may include one
or more VNF that is chosen based on device profile and/or
identification of the UE.
[0073] FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a storage medium 1100.
The storage medium 1100 may comprise an article of manufacture. In
one embodiment, the storage medium 1100 may comprise any
non-transitory computer readable medium or machine readable medium,
such as an optical, magnetic or semiconductor storage. The storage
medium may store various types of computer executable instructions,
such as instructions 1102 to implement one or more of logic flows
described herein. Examples of a computer readable or machine
readable storage medium may include any tangible media capable of
storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile
memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable
memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples of
computer executable instructions may include any suitable type of
code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code,
executable code, static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code,
visual code, and the like. The embodiments are not limited in this
context.
[0074] FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of a device 1200 for use
in a broadband wireless access network. Device 1200 may implement,
for example, the apparatuses, systems, elements, components,
storage, and/or logic described herein. The logic circuit 1228 may
include physical circuits to perform operations described for the
apparatuses, systems, elements, components, storage, and/or logic
described herein, for example. As shown in FIG. 12, device 1200 may
include a radio interface 1210, baseband circuitry 1220, and
computing platform 1230, although the embodiments are not limited
to this configuration.
[0075] The device 1200 may implement some or all of the structure
and/or operations, for example, the apparatuses, systems, elements,
components, storage, and/or logic described herein in a single
computing entity, such as entirely within a single device.
Alternatively, the device 1200 may distribute portions of the
structure and/or operations, for example, the apparatuses, systems,
elements, components, storage, and/or logic, described herein,
across multiple computing entities using a distributed system
architecture, such as a client-server architecture, a 3-tier
architecture, an N-tier architecture, a tightly-coupled or
clustered architecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, a master-slave
architecture, a shared database architecture, and other types of
distributed systems. The embodiments are not limited in this
context.
[0076] In one embodiment, radio interface 1210 may include a
component or combination of components adapted for transmitting
and/or receiving single carrier or multi-carrier modulated signals
(e.g., including complementary code keying (CCK) and/or orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols) although the
embodiments are not limited to any specific over-the-air interface
or modulation scheme. Radio interface 1210 may include, for
example, a receiver 1212, a frequency synthesizer 1214, and/or a
transmitter 1216. Radio interface 1210 may include bias controls, a
crystal oscillator and/or one or more antennas 1218-f. In another
embodiment, radio interface 1210 may use external
voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), surface acoustic wave
filters, intermediate frequency (IF) filters and/or RF filters, as
desired. Due to the variety of potential RF interface designs an
expansive description thereof is omitted.
[0077] Baseband circuitry 1220 may communicate with radio interface
1210 to process receive and/or transmit signals and may include,
for example, an analog-to-digital converter 1222 for down
converting received signals, a digital-to-analog converter 1224 for
up converting signals for transmission. Further, baseband circuitry
1220 may include a baseband or physical layer (PHY) processing
circuit 1226 for PHY link layer processing of respective
receive/transmit signals. Baseband circuitry 1220 may include, for
example, a medium access control (MAC) processing circuit 1227 for
MAC/data link layer processing. Baseband circuitry 1220 may include
a memory controller 1232 for communicating with MAC processing
circuit 1227 and/or a computing platform 1230, for example, via one
or more interfaces 1234.
[0078] In some embodiments, PHY processing circuit 1226 may include
a frame construction and/or detection module, in combination with
additional circuitry such as a buffer memory, to construct and/or
deconstruct communication frames and/or packets. Alternatively or
in addition, MAC processing circuit 1227 may share processing for
certain of these functions or perform these processes independent
of PHY processing circuit 1226. In some embodiments, MAC and PHY
processing may be integrated into a single circuit.
[0079] The computing platform 1230 may provide computing
functionality for the device 1200. As shown, the computing platform
1230 may include a processing component 1240. In addition to, or
alternatively of, the baseband circuitry 1220, the device 1200 may
execute processing operations or logic for the apparatuses,
systems, elements, components, storage, and/or logic described
herein, for example, and/or logic circuit 1228 using the processing
component 1240. The processing component 1240 (and/or PHY 19226
and/or MAC 1227) may comprise various hardware elements, software
elements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements
may include devices, logic devices, components, processors,
microprocessors, circuits, processor circuits, circuit elements
(e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so
forth), integrated circuits, application specific integrated
circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), digital signal
processors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), memory
units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips,
microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software elements
may include software components, programs, applications, computer
programs, application programs, system programs, software
development programs, machine programs, operating system software,
middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines,
functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application
program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code,
computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words,
values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether an
embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or software
elements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such as
desired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances,
processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates,
memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performance
constraints, as desired for a given implementation.
[0080] The computing platform 1230 may further include other
platform components 1950. Other platform components 1250 include
common computing elements, such as one or more processors,
multi-core processors, co-processors, memory units, chipsets,
controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timing devices,
video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O) components
(e.g., digital displays), power supplies, and so forth. Examples of
memory units may include without limitation various types of
computer readable and machine readable storage media in the form of
one or more higher speed memory units, such as read-only memory
(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM),
Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM
(SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),
electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory,
polymer memory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory,
phase change or ferroelectric memory,
silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or
optical cards, an array of devices such as Redundant Array of
Independent Disks (RAID) drives, solid state memory devices (e.g.,
USB memory, solid state drives (SSD) and any other type of storage
media suitable for storing information.
[0081] Device 1200 may be, for example, an ultra-mobile device, a
mobile device, a fixed device, a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, a
personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a
smart phone, a telephone, a digital telephone, a cellular
telephone, user equipment, eBook readers, a handset, a one-way
pager, a two-way pager, a messaging device, a computer, a personal
computer (PC), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook
computer, a netbook computer, a handheld computer, a tablet
computer, a server, a server array or server farm, a web server, a
network server, an Internet server, a work station, a
mini-computer, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, a network
appliance, a web appliance, a distributed computing system,
multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems, consumer
electronics, programmable consumer electronics, game devices,
television, digital television, set top box, wireless access point,
base station, node B, subscriber station, mobile subscriber center,
radio network controller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch,
machine, or combination thereof. Accordingly, functions and/or
specific configurations of device 1200 described herein, may be
included or omitted in various embodiments of device 1200, as
suitably desired. In some embodiments, device 1900 may be
configured to be compatible with protocols and frequencies
associated one or more of the 3GPP LTE Specifications and/or IEEE
802.16 Standards for WMANs, and/or other broadband wireless
networks, cited herein, although the embodiments are not limited in
this respect.
[0082] Embodiments of device 1200 may be implemented using single
input single output (SISO) architectures. However, certain
implementations may include multiple antennas (e.g., antennas
1218-f) for transmission and/or reception using adaptive antenna
techniques for beamforming or spatial division multiple access
(SDMA) and/or using MIMO communication techniques.
[0083] The components and features of device 1200 may be
implemented using any combination of discrete circuitry,
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), logic gates
and/or single chip architectures. Further, the features of device
1200 may be implemented using microcontrollers, programmable logic
arrays and/or microprocessors or any combination of the foregoing
where suitably appropriate. It is noted that hardware, firmware
and/or software elements may be collectively or individually
referred to herein as "logic" or "circuit."
[0084] It should be appreciated that the exemplary device 1200
shown in the block diagram of FIG. 12 may represent one
functionally descriptive example of many potential implementations.
Accordingly, division, omission or inclusion of block functions
depicted in the accompanying figures does not infer that the
hardware components, circuits, software and/or elements for
implementing these functions would be necessarily be divided,
omitted, or included in embodiments.
[0085] FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of a broadband wireless
access system 1300. As shown in FIG. 13, broadband wireless access
system 1300 may be an internet protocol (IP) type network
comprising an internet 1310 type network or the like that is
capable of supporting mobile wireless access and/or fixed wireless
access to internet 1310. In one or more embodiments, broadband
wireless access system 1300 may comprise any type of orthogonal
frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based wireless network,
such as a system compliant with one or more of the 3GPP LTE
Specifications and/or IEEE 802.16 Standards, and the scope of the
claimed subject matter is not limited in these respects.
[0086] In the exemplary broadband wireless access system 1300,
access service networks (ASN) 1312, 1318 are capable of coupling
with base stations (BS) (or eNodeBs) 1314, 1320, respectively, to
provide wireless communication between one or more fixed devices
1316 and internet 1310 and/or between or one or more mobile devices
1322 and Internet 1310. One example of a fixed device 1316 and a
mobile device 1322 is device 1200, with the fixed device 1316
comprising a stationary version of device 1200 and the mobile
device 1322 comprising a mobile version of device 1200. ASNs 1312,
1318 may implement profiles that are capable of defining the
mapping of network functions to one or more physical entities on
broadband wireless access system 1300. Base stations (or eNodeBs)
1314, 1320 may comprise radio equipment to provide RF communication
with fixed device 1316 and/or mobile device 1322, such as described
with reference to device 1200, and may comprise, for example, the
PHY and MAC layer equipment in compliance with a 3GPP LTE
Specification or an IEEE 802.16 Standard. Base stations (or
eNodeBs) 1314, 1320 may further comprise an IP backplane to couple
to Internet 1310 via ASNs 1312, 1318, respectively, although the
scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in these
respects.
[0087] Broadband wireless access system 1300 may further comprise a
visited connectivity service network (CSN) 2024 capable of
providing one or more network functions including but not limited
to proxy and/or relay type functions, for example authentication,
authorization and accounting (AAA) functions, dynamic host
configuration protocol (DHCP) functions, or domain name service
controls or the like, domain gateways such as public switched
telephone network (PSTN) gateways or voice over internet protocol
(VoIP) gateways, and/or internet protocol (IP) type server
functions, or the like. However, these are merely example of the
types of functions that are capable of being provided by visited
CSN 1324 or home CSN 1326, and the scope of the claimed subject
matter is not limited in these respects. Visited CSN 2024 may be
referred to as a visited CSN in the case where visited CSN 1324 is
not part of the regular service provider of fixed device 1316 or
mobile device 1322, for example where fixed device 2016 or mobile
device 1322 is roaming away from its respective home CSN 1326, or
where broadband wireless access system 1300 is part of the regular
service provider of fixed device 1316 or mobile device 1322 but
where broadband wireless access system 1300 may be in another
location or state that is not the main or home location of fixed
device 1316 or mobile device 1322.
[0088] Fixed device 1316 may be located anywhere within range of
one or both base stations (or eNodeBs) 1314, 1320, such as in or
near a home or business to provide home or business customer
broadband access to Internet 1310 via base stations (or eNodeBs)
1314, 1320 and ASNs 1312, 1318, respectively, and home CSN 1326. It
is worthy of note that although fixed device 1316 is generally
disposed in a stationary location, it may be moved to different
locations as needed. Mobile device 1322 may be utilized at one or
more locations if mobile device 1322 is within range of one or both
base stations (or eNodeBs) 1314,1320, for example.
[0089] In accordance with one or more embodiments, operation
support system (OSS) 1328 may be part of broadband wireless access
system 1300 to provide management functions for broadband wireless
access system 1300 and to provide interfaces between functional
entities of broadband wireless access system 1300. Broadband
wireless access system 1300 of FIG. 13 is merely one type of
wireless network showing a certain number of the components of
broadband wireless access system 1300, and the scope of the claimed
subject matter is not limited in these respects.
[0090] Various embodiments may be implemented using hardware
elements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples of
hardware elements may include processors, microprocessors,
circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors,
capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits,
application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic
devices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable
gate array (FPGA), logic gates, registers, semiconductor device,
chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software
may include software components, programs, applications, computer
programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs,
operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules,
routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software
interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets,
computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code
segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof.
Determining whether an embodiment is implemented using hardware
elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance with any
number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power
levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates,
output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other
design or performance constraints.
[0091] One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be
implemented by representative instructions stored on a
machine-readable medium which represents various logic within the
processor, which when read by a machine causes the machine to
fabricate logic to perform the techniques described herein. Such
representations, known as "IP cores" may be stored on a tangible,
machine readable medium and supplied to various customers or
manufacturing facilities to load into the fabrication machines that
actually make the logic or processor. Some embodiments may be
implemented, for example, using a machine-readable medium or
article which may store an instruction or a set of instructions
that, if executed by a machine, may cause the machine to perform a
method and/or operations in accordance with the embodiments. Such a
machine may include, for example, any suitable processing platform,
computing platform, computing device, processing device, computing
system, processing system, computer, processor, or the like, and
may be implemented using any suitable combination of hardware
and/or software. The machine-readable medium or article may
include, for example, any suitable type of memory unit, memory
device, memory article, memory medium, storage device, storage
article, storage medium and/or storage unit, for example, memory,
removable or non-removable media, erasable or non-erasable media,
writeable or re-writeable media, digital or analog media, hard
disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact
Disk Recordable (CD-R), Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD-RW), optical
disk, magnetic media, magneto-optical media, removable memory cards
or disks, various types of Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), a tape, a
cassette, or the like. The instructions may include any suitable
type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code,
executable code, static code, dynamic code, encrypted code, and the
like, implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level,
object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming
language.
[0092] Numerous specific details have been set forth herein to
provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be
understood by those skilled in the art, however, that the
embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In
other instances, well-known operations, components, and circuits
have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the
embodiments. It can be appreciated that the specific structural and
functional details disclosed herein may be representative and do
not necessarily limit the scope of the embodiments.
[0093] Some embodiments may be described using the expression
"coupled" and "connected" along with their derivatives. These terms
are not intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some
embodiments may be described using the terms "connected" and/or
"coupled" to indicate that two or more elements are in direct
physical or electrical contact with each other. The term "coupled,"
however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct
contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with
each other.
[0094] Unless specifically stated otherwise, it may be appreciated
that terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating,"
"determining," or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of
a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing
device, that manipulates and/or transforms data represented as
physical quantities (e.g., electronic) within the computing
system's registers and/or memories into other data similarly
represented as physical quantities within the computing system's
memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission
or display devices. The embodiments are not limited in this
context.
[0095] It should be noted that the methods described herein do not
have to be executed in the order described, or in any particular
order. Moreover, various activities described with respect to the
methods identified herein can be executed in serial or parallel
fashion.
[0096] Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and
described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement
calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the
specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover
any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments. It is
to be understood that the above description has been made in an
illustrative fashion, and not a restrictive one. Combinations of
the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically
described herein will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon
reviewing the above description. Thus, the scope of various
embodiments includes any other applications in which the above
compositions, structures, and methods are used.
[0097] What has been described above includes examples of the
disclosed architecture, system, devices, processes, structure, and
functions. It is, of course, not possible to describe every
conceivable combination of components and/or methodologies, but one
of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further
combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the novel
architecture is intended to embrace all such alterations,
modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope
of the appended claims. The detailed disclosure now turns to
providing examples that pertain to further embodiments. The
examples provided below are not intended to be limiting.
EXAMPLE 1
[0098] An evolved node B (eNB), comprising: at least one memory;
and a processor circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the
processor circuit to: identify information for user equipment (UE),
the information comprised in a received control message; select a
network slice (NS) for allocation to the UE based on the identified
information; and report the selected NS to a virtual network
functions orchestrator.
EXAMPLE 2
[0099] The eNB according to Example 1, wherein the NS comprises at
least one virtual network function (VNF).
EXAMPLE 3
[0100] The eNB according to Example 2, wherein the NS comprises at
least two VNFs.
EXAMPLE 4
[0101] The eNB according to any of Examples 1 to 3, wherein the
identified information comprises a profile of the UE and/or an
identification of the UE.
EXAMPLE 5
[0102] The eNB according to Example 1, further comprising a
plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs including at least
one VNF.
EXAMPLE 6
[0103] The eNB according to Example 5, wherein the first of the
plurality of NSs is designated for a first UE and a second of the
plurality of NSs is designated for a second UE, the first and
second UEs being unique.
EXAMPLE 7
[0104] The eNB according to Example 5, wherein the at least one VNF
of a first NS of the plurality of NSs is to provide functionality
that is different than the functionality that is to be provided by
the at least one VNF of a second NS of the plurality of NSs.
EXAMPLE 8
[0105] An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and a
processor circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor
circuit to: identify information for a user equipment (UE), the
information comprised in a received message; select a network slice
(NS) for allocation to the UE based on the identified information,
the NS comprising at least one virtual network function (VNF); and
report the selected NS to a virtual network functions
orchestrator.
EXAMPLE 9
[0106] The apparatus according to Example 8, wherein the NS
comprises a network slice selector (NSS) and the at least one
VNF.
EXAMPLE 10
[0107] The apparatus according to Example 9, wherein the apparatus
is implemented by an evolved packet core (EPC).
EXAMPLE 11
[0108] The apparatus according to Example 9, wherein the apparatus
is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC), and the NS
comprising the NSS and the at least one VNF is implemented in a
control plane of the EPC.
EXAMPLE 12
[0109] The apparatus according to Example 11, further comprising
another NS that is distinct from the NS comprising the NSS and the
at least one VNF, the another NS is implemented in a user plane of
the EPC.
EXAMPLE 13
[0110] The apparatus according to any of Examples 8 to 9, wherein
the apparatus is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC).
EXAMPLE 14
[0111] The apparatus to Example 9, wherein the NSS is implemented
in a mobility management entity (MME)-stub and the NS is
implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC).
EXAMPLE 15
[0112] The apparatus according to Example 8, further comprising
another NS that comprises at least one VNF, the another NS is
distinct from the NS.
EXAMPLE 16
[0113] The apparatus according to Example 8, wherein the
information comprises a profile of the UE and/or an identification
of the UE.
EXAMPLE 17
[0114] The apparatus according to Example 8, wherein the received
message is a radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message.
EXAMPLE 18
[0115] The apparatus according to Example 8, further comprising a
plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs including at least
one VNF.
EXAMPLE 19
[0116] An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and a
processor circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor
circuit to: identify information for a user equipment (UE)
comprised in a received control message; elect a network slice (NS)
comprising a first virtual network function (VNF) for allocation to
the UE based on the identified information, the NS selected from a
plurality of NSs each comprising at least one VNF; and report the
selected NS to a virtual network functions orchestrator.
EXAMPLE 20
[0117] The apparatus device according to Example 19, wherein the
processor circuit is further to select another NS comprising a
second VNF from the plurality of NSs irrespective of the identified
information.
EXAMPLE 21
[0118] The apparatus according to Example 20, wherein the NS and
the first VNF are distinct from the another NS and the second
VNF.
EXAMPLE 22
[0119] The apparatus according to any of Examples 19 to 21, wherein
the processor circuit is further to receive the identified
information from the UE as part of the received control message,
the information received from the UE comprises a profile of the UE
and/or an identification of the UE.
EXAMPLE 23
[0120] The apparatus according to Example 22, wherein the received
control message is radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message.
EXAMPLE 24
[0121] The apparatus according to Example 19, wherein the processor
circuit is to select the NS comprising the first VNF from a
plurality of NSs implementing only one or more VNF.
EXAMPLE 25
[0122] The apparatus according to any of Examples 19 to 21, wherein
the NS is designated for a first UE type and the another NS is
designated for any UE type.
EXAMPLE 26
[0123] A base station, comprising: at least one memory; and a
processor circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor
circuit to: identify information for user equipment (UE), the
information comprised in a received control message; select a
network slice (NS) for allocation to the UE based on the identified
information; and report the selected NS to a virtual network
functions orchestrator.
EXAMPLE 27
[0124] The base station according to Example 26, wherein the NS
comprises at least one virtual network function (VNF).
EXAMPLE 28
[0125] The base station according to Example 27, wherein the NS
comprises at least two VNFs.
EXAMPLE 29
[0126] The base station according to any of Examples 26 to 28,
wherein the identified information comprises a profile of the UE,
an identification of the UE, and/or at least one service requested
by the UE.
EXAMPLE 30
[0127] The base station according to any of Examples 26 to 27,
further comprising a plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs
including at least one VNF.
EXAMPLE 31
[0128] The base station according to any of Examples 26 to 28,
wherein the received control message is provided using a radio
resource control (RRC) protocol and the base station is an evolved
node B (eNB).
EXAMPLE 32
[0129] The base station according to Example 30, wherein the at
least one VNF of a first NS of the plurality of NSs is to provide
functionality that is different than the functionality that is to
be provided by the at least one VNF of a second NS of the plurality
of NSs.
EXAMPLE 33
[0130] An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and a
processor circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor
circuit to: identify information for a user equipment (UE), the
information comprised in a received message; select a network slice
(NS) for allocation to the UE based on the identified information,
the NS comprising at least one virtual network function (VNF); and
report the selected NS to a virtual network functions
orchestrator.
EXAMPLE 34
[0131] The apparatus according to Example 33, wherein the NS
comprises a network slice selector (NSS) and the at least one
VNF.
EXAMPLE 35
[0132] The apparatus according to Example 34, wherein the apparatus
is implemented by an evolved packet core (EPC).
EXAMPLE 36
[0133] The apparatus according to Example 34, wherein the apparatus
is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC), and the NS
comprising the NSS and the at least one VNF is implemented in a
control plane of the EPC.
EXAMPLE 37
[0134] The apparatus according to Example 36, further comprising
another NS that is distinct from the NS comprising the NSS and the
at least one VNF, the another NS is implemented in a user plane of
the EPC.
EXAMPLE 38
[0135] The apparatus according to Example 33, wherein the apparatus
is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC) and/or a mobility
management entity (MME).
EXAMPLE 39
[0136] The apparatus according to Example 34, wherein the NSS is
implemented in a mobility management entity (MME)-stub and the NS
is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC), the MME-stub
functional to provide MME functionality.
EXAMPLE 40
[0137] The apparatus according to Example 33, wherein the NSS is
implemented in a mobility management entity (MME)-stub, the
MME-stub to provide MME authentication functionality.
EXAMPLE 41
[0138] The apparatus according to Example 33, further comprising
another NS that comprises at least one VNF, the another NS is
distinct from the NS.
EXAMPLE 42
[0139] The apparatus according to Example 33, wherein the
identified information comprises a profile of the UE, an
identification of the UE, and/or at least one service requested by
the UE.
EXAMPLE 43
[0140] The apparatus according to Example 33, wherein the received
message is a radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message, service request message, and/or a non-access stratum (NAS)
message.
EXAMPLE 44
[0141] The apparatus according to Example 33, further comprising a
plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs including at least
one VNF.
EXAMPLE 45
[0142] An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and a
processor circuit coupled to the at least one memory, the processor
circuit to: identify information for a user equipment (UE)
comprised in a received control message; select a network slice
(NS) comprising a first virtual network function (VNF) for
allocation to the UE based on the identified information, NS
selected from a plurality of NSs each comprising at least one VNF;
and report the selected NS to a virtual network functions
orchestrator.
EXAMPLE 46
[0143] The apparatus device according to Example 45, wherein the
processor circuit is further to select another NS comprising a
second VNF from the plurality of NSs irrespective of the identified
information.
EXAMPLE 47
[0144] The apparatus according to Example 46, wherein the NS and
the first VNF are distinct from the another NS and the second
VNF.
EXAMPLE 48
[0145] The apparatus according to Example 45, wherein the processor
circuit is further to receive the identified information from the
UE as part of the received control message, the information
received from the UE comprises a profile of the UE and/or an
identification of the UE.
EXAMPLE 49
[0146] The apparatus according to Example 48, wherein the received
control message is radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message and/or non-access stratum (NAS) message.
EXAMPLE 50
[0147] The apparatus according to Example 45, wherein the NS is
designated for a first UE type and the another NS is designated for
any UE type.
EXAMPLE 51
[0148] An evolved node B (eNB), comprising: a processor circuit; a
network slice selector (NSS) for execution by the processor circuit
to select a network slice (NS) based on an information provided by
a user equipment (UE).
EXAMPLE 52
[0149] The eNB according to Example 51, wherein the NS comprises at
least one virtual network function (VNF).
EXAMPLE 53
[0150] The eNB according to Example 52, wherein the NS comprises at
least two VNFs.
EXAMPLE 54
[0151] The eNB according to Example 51, wherein the information
provided by the UE is a message including a profile of the UE
and/or an identification of the UE.
EXAMPLE 55
[0152] The eNB according to Example 51, further comprising a
plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs including at least
one VNF.
EXAMPLE 56
[0153] The eNB according to Example 55, wherein the first of the
plurality of NSs is designated for a first UE and a second of the
plurality of NSs is designated for a second UE, the first and
second UEs being unique.
EXAMPLE 57
[0154] The eNB according to Example 55, wherein the at least one
VNF of a first NS of the plurality of NSs is to provide
functionality that is different than the functionality that is to
be provided by the at least one VNF of a second NS of the plurality
of NSs.
EXAMPLE 58
[0155] A network device, comprising: a processor circuit; a network
slice selector (NSS) for execution by the processor circuit to
select a network slice (NS) comprising at least one virtual network
function (VNF) based on an information provided by a user equipment
(UE).
EXAMPLE 59
[0156] The network device according to Example 58, wherein the NS
comprises the NSS and the VNF.
EXAMPLE 60
[0157] The network device according to Example 59, wherein the
network device is implemented by a mobility management entity
(MME).
EXAMPLE 61
[0158] The network device according to Example 59, wherein the
network device is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC), and
the NS comprising the NSS and the VNF is implemented in a control
plane of the EPC.
EXAMPLE 62
[0159] The network device according to Example 61, further
comprising another NS that is distinct from the NS comprising the
NSS and the VNF, the another NS is implemented a user plane of the
EPC.
EXAMPLE 63
[0160] The network device according to Example 58, wherein the
network device is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC).
EXAMPLE 64
[0161] The network device according to Example 58, wherein the NSS
is implemented in mobility management entity (MME)-stub and the NS
is implemented in an MME, the MME-stub and the MME being distinct
network entities.
EXAMPLE 65
[0162] The network device according to Example 58, further
comprising another NS that comprises at least one VNF, the another
NS is distinct from the NS.
EXAMPLE 66
[0163] The network device according to Example 58, wherein the
information provided by the UE is a message including a profile of
the UE and/or an identification of the UE.
EXAMPLE 67
[0164] The network device according to Example 66, wherein the
message is radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message.
EXAMPLE 68
[0165] The network device according to Example 58, further
comprising a plurality of NSs, each of the plurality of NSs
including at least one VNF.
EXAMPLE 69
[0166] A network device, comprising: a processor circuit; a network
slice selector (NSS) for execution by the processor circuit to
select a network slice (NS) comprising a first virtual network
function (VNF) based on an information provided by a user equipment
(UE), the NSS comprised in another NS comprising a second VNF.
EXAMPLE 70
[0167] The network device according to Example 69, wherein the NSS
is further executed by the processor circuit to select the another
NS irrespective of the information provided by the UE.
EXAMPLE 71
[0168] The network device according to Example 69, wherein the
network device is implemented by a mobility management entity
(MME).
EXAMPLE 72
[0169] The network device according to Example 69, wherein the
network device is implemented in an evolved packet core (EPC.
EXAMPLE 73
[0170] The network device according to Example 69, further
comprising a third NS that is distinct from the NS comprised in the
NSS and the VNF, the third NS is implemented a user plane of the
EPC.
EXAMPLE 75
[0171] The network device according to Example 69, wherein the NSS
is implemented in a mobility management entity (MME)-stub and the
NS is implemented in an MME, the MME-stub and the MME being
distinct network entities.
EXAMPLE 76
[0172] The network device according to Example 69, wherein the
information provided by the UE is a message including a profile of
the UE and/or an identification of the UE.
EXAMPLE 77
[0173] The network device according to Example 76, wherein the
message is radio resource control (RRC) connection request
message.
[0174] It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is
provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. .sctn. 1.72(b), requiring an
abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature
of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding
that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning
of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description,
it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a
single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure.
This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an
intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than
are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following
claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all
features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following
claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with
each claim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment.
In the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are
used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms
"comprising" and "wherein," respectively. Moreover, the terms
"first," "second," and "third," etc. are used merely as labels, and
are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their
objects.
[0175] Although the subject matter has been described in language
specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is
to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended
claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts
described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described
above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the
claims.
* * * * *